More women 40 to 44 remaining childless

The number of women ages 40 to 44 who remain childless has doubled in a generation, the U.S. Census reported Monday.

In June 2006, 20% of women in that age group remained childless. Thirty years ago it was 10%.

"A lot of women are having no children," Jane Lawler Dye, the author of the report, says. "Also, the women who are having children are having fewer children."

Birth rates for non-Hispanic white women, at 1.9 per woman, continue to remain lower than the rate that would be needed to replace the population (2.1 per woman), according to the report that details fertility rates in 2006 for women 15 to 44.  …